The Traveler's Medicine Cabinet

1. Find a host "Blogger.com is a free host with a straightforward interface and a variety of templates. When you post an entry, a link to the item is created and then archived chronologically." —Juliana Broste, travelingjules.blogspot.com 2. Stay Connected "Because I blog on the road from my RV, I subscribe to BroadbandAccess, a service that allows me to access the Internet from anywhere in the Verizon Wireless network by plugging a wireless device into my computer's USB port. The service costs me $60 a month, plus $30 for the device and software." —Patty Lonsbary, glotours.blogspot.com 3. Prepare in advance "With the WordPress blogging software—free at wordpress.com—you can write your entries in advance and set a date for them to be posted. That way there's fresh material on your blog even if you won't be able to write for a while." —Alena Kerins, followalena.com 4. Arrange for help "Before going overseas, contact your computer's manufacturer and ask for the technical-support number in the country you're visiting. [For example, Apple lists all of its numbers at apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html.] Getting help on the road is then just a phone call away." —Colleen Nylund, functionoftime.blogspot.com 5. Set a schedule "Consistent posting is key to boosting readership of your blog—if you only post new entries sporadically, or fall off for weeks at a time, people will stop reading. I set myself a deadline to post a blog entry every Monday before I go to bed." —Sean Whiting, linkopinglivin.blogspot.com 6. Shrink photos "If you reduce the size of your photos with a program like Microsoft Office Picture Manager or iPhoto, you can upload them more quickly and they won't use up as much memory on your site. Uploading videos to YouTube also saves you memory." —Bob Dashman, happyflier.com 7. Attract readers "To drive traffic to your site, leave remarks on other blogs and include a link to yours. And set up an account at sitemeter.com to track your visitor numbers." —Anne Ditmeyer, pretavoyager.blogspot.com 8. Keep in touch "I always attempt to respond to everybody who leaves a comment on my blog, even if I just drop them an e-mail to thank them for visiting the site. Connecting with your readers encourages them to keep reading and posting comments. That's really what you want as a blogger—lots of comments!" —Jody Halsted, blog.havekidwilltravel.com

What happened While on a SmarTours trip in India, Lois Hopfenberg and Joan Hopner of Boynton Beach, Fla., followed their guide's advice and bought white-gold-and-topaz rings at Jewels & Gold Palace in Jaipur. Back in Florida, the women had the rings appraised. While the stones were real, the bands were sterling silver, not white gold. Joan's ring, which cost her $1,350, was valued at $250, while Lois's $1,875 ring was only worth $100. "Boy, was that a shockeroo," says Lois. What they did SmarTours manager Eli Milbaur says the purchases people make on tours are on a "buyer beware" basis. "Guides may make suggestions or try to help, but that does not take the responsibility off clients to exercise good judgment," he says. Lois and Joan sent their receipts and appraisals to their credit card companies, and the charges were later reversed. What the experts say Three tour operators we asked said the women should've done more research before making a major purchase, such as asking at their hotel where to find a reputable jewelry dealer. The women were wise, though, to pay with credit cards and to ensure that their receipts had descriptions of the rings, which helped the credit card companies determine there was a valid dispute. "The cardholder must have proof that the merchandise was not described properly by the merchant," says Joanne Trout, a spokeswoman for MasterCard.

Albuquerque, N.M.: The Weird Weird WestHow old does an area have to be to merit the name "Old Town"? In the case of Albuquerque's downtown, the answer is just over three centuries. Founded in 1706, Old Town has accumulated enough crime and punishment to qualify as a major hub of the supernatural in a state that already attracts some truly inexplicable activity. (Why did the aliens land at Roswell, anyway?) Every night here is fright night if you take the Ghost Tour of Old Town. At 8 p.m., after Old Town Plaza has grown eerily quiet, lantern-carrying "certified paranormal investigators" lead tour parties through dark alleys, quiet trails, and cemeteries, retelling tales of railroad-era murders and Civil War battles. Residents claim that they've seen apparitions and heard disembodied voices. Tours of Old Town, 505/246-8687, toursofoldtown.com, $20, $18 students and seniors, $10 children 6-12 (suitable for children 6 and older), ticket windows open 15 minutes before tour time. Baltimore: A Cure for Midnights Dreary Baltimore likes to spotlight its local celebrity, Edgar Allan Poe, 19th-century America's most morbid literary figure. (For instance, the city named its football team the Ravens in homage to Poe's famous poem.) You'll find the best perspective on the author of the "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Premature Burial" at the Baltimore Poe House and Museum, which stands on the site where the author worked during the early 1830s. But if you prefer atmospherics to exhibitions, check out the Westminster Burying Grounds and Catacombs—where Poe found eternal relief from his feverish imagination. It's open year-round from 8 a.m. to dusk. Both sites become Gracelands of gloom on the weekends before and after Halloween. Special event tours are conducted by trained Baltimore historians, including one that takes brave enthusiasts deep into the cemetery's catacombs in search of some excellently Gothic heebie-jeebies. Baltimore Poe House and Museum, 203 North Amity St., Baltimore, 410/396-7932, eapoe.org, reservations required, operates 12-3:30 p.m. Wed. through Sat. from April through November, $4, free for children 12 and younger, suitable for children 6 and older. Westminster Burying Grounds and Catacombs, 519 W Fayette St., West Baltimore, 410/706-2072, westminsterhall.org, gravesite open during daylight for free, tours by reservation only on the first and third Friday and Saturday of each month, April through November, $5, $4 children 12 and under, suitable for mature children. Chicago: America's Most Haunted The paranormal is all fine and good, but sometimes you want Halloween horror that's as solid as a cement loafer. In Chicago, the publisher and tour organizer Weird Chicago does a bang-up job of providing exactly that, telling stories about the red-light district, pinstripe-suited gangsters, and Virgin Mary sightings. Of note is a tour based on the popular book The Devil in the White City. The tour focuses on H.H. Holmes, long considered the first nationally known serial killer. Holmes trapped and murdered dozens of guests at his hotel. You'll see the grounds of his torture chamber, nicknamed Murder Castle, that has since been destroyed and replaced with a post office. This tour covers a lot of territory, using a bus for portions of the trip. Weird Chicago Tours, 888/446-7859, weirdchicago.com, reservations required, $30, $20 children 12 and under, call for latest schedule, most tours not recommended for children under 10. L.A.: Boulevards of Broken Dreams In a comic twist on the cliché that nobody walks in L.A., Hollywood's Tragical History "walking tour" of famous Hollywood crimes scene is done by van. Tour leader Scott Michaels conducts his three-hour trips in a Tomb Buggy that holds up to 13 passengers. The tour covers the sordid history of the murderous Menendez brothers, the serial killer Charles Manson, and other notorious characters. Michaels also spotlights the exteriors used in some of cinema's spookiest classics, such as Halloween, Dead Again, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Along the way, Michaels touches on Hollywood's horror-film industry, including a drive-by of the former haunts of Bela Lugosi, who famously played Count Dracula. Dearly Departed Tours, 800/979-3370, dearlydepartedtours.com, $35, trips depart Wed.-Sat. at 1 p.m. with an additional 9:30 a.m. tour on Saturdays (advance purchase recommended due to limited capacity), not intended for children. New Orleans: The Big Creepy Thanks to Anne Rice (Interview With the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat), New Orleans is second only to Transylvania in bloodsucking lore. And you can get a great overview of the town by taking the New Orleans Vampire Tour, which embarks nightly at 8:30 from the Gothic St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square. The nearly two-hour tour explores the French Quarter stalking ground of vampires, both fictional and (allegedly) real. Along the route are sites that Rice has written about and exterior locations from the Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt film version of Interview. Note: The tour is B.Y.O. Garlic. New Orleans Vampire Tour, 888/644-6787, neworleansghosttour.com, $20, $17 students and seniors, $10 children under 12 (suitable for children), reservations required. New York City: Start Spreading the Boos Take a Ghosts of the City—as opposed to a Sex and the City—tour, in which the Big Apple's darker history is recounted. One tour departs from a Blimpie sandwich shop (at 38 Park Row), where guides launch into sepia-toned tales of such famous characters as the pirate Captain Kidd, Algonquin Indians, and P. T. Barnum's circus freaks. On other tours, you'll stroll through the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and the East Village, passing sites where the ghosts of Harry Houdini and Washington Irving are rumored to lurk. Be sure to ask about the dilapidated St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, where the 17th-century Dutch settler Peter Stuyvesant is interred—and where his spirit may still roam. Ghosts of New York, 888/699-2550, ghostsofny.com, $20, reservations recommended, online price $15, online price for children 12 and under $10 but only suitable for mature children. Salem, Mass.: Witchcraft Central If you hang, burn, stone, and crush enough witches and warlocks to death, as the authorities of Salem, Mass., did in the late 1600s, you're going to stir up a mess of hostile supernatural activity. Get an overview of this hamlet's spookiest spots by taking the Haunted Footsteps Ghost Tour. Guides dressed in colonial garb escort you around the landmark Joshua Ward House (built on the very site where many of the accused were tried, convicted, and rushed to their deaths) and the Howard Street Burial Ground, among other sights. From April through October, the tour departs every evening at 8 p.m., but you may want to arrive earlier in the day to visit the Witch Dungeon Museum, where reenactments of the trials are held every half hour. In fact, the whole town gets in on the act: Even its police patrol cars are branded with the logo of a witch flying on a broom. Salem Historical Tours, 978/745-0666, salemhistoricaltours.com, $14, $10 military, $8 children 6–14 (suitable for children 6 and older), advance reservations recommended. Witch Dungeon Museum, 16 Lynde St., 978/741-3570, witchdungeon.com, open daily April–November, $8, $7 seniors, $6 children 4–13. Seattle: Smells Like Mean Spirits When you think of Seattle, you probably think of rain, grunge, and Tom Hanks being sleepless—not ghouls and phantoms. But the city has its share, as the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries can prove. Exhibits include a display of four plaster casts of Bigfoot's footprints and the story of a 1910 avalanche that claimed nearly 100 lives on a now-defunct rail line. From the museum, you can take a 90-minute tour of the Capitol Hill neighborhood's most haunted attractions, such as the Harvard Exit Theater, where uneasy spirits have been sighted. Guides also share stories about the behavior of the city's most famous ghosts, including that of Brandon Lee, the seemingly hexed son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. (Brandon was accidentally killed while making the Goth classic The Crow in 1994.) Seattle Museum of the Mysteries, 623 Broadway E., 206/328-6499, seattlechatclub.org, admission $2, reservations recommended, tours depart at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. every Saturday night, suggested donation for tour $5, $3 for children 8–16.

Hungry Mother: Four restaurant veterans who met while working the fine-dining circuit in Boston got together and opened this tiny, eclectic space (the floors slope every which way) near MIT. The emphasis is on sustainable ingredients and robust Virginian country flavors from the home state of chef Barry Maiden (pictured far left). You won't find a better meal—from cornmeal-coated catfish to flatiron steak—in Boston, even at twice the price. Make a reservation, unless you like waiting in line. 233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., 617/499-0090, hungrymothercambridge.com, entrées from $9. The Beehive: Come for the music; stay for the food. That's pretty much the unspoken motto at the Beehive, a café crossed with a live jazz and blues club that regularly hosts the Tim Miller Quartet and soul sister Valerie Stephens. Executive chef Rebecca Newell's late-night nibbles include grilled cheese sandwiches served with short ribs, Guinness-battered fried oysters, and an irresistible trio of mini beef Wellingtons. 541 Tremont St., 617/423-0069, beehiveboston.com, entrées from $11. Pho Republique: The place looks a bit like a Vietnamese version of Disney World—Buddhas of all shapes and sizes adorn the walls, bathrooms, and bar—but the food is authentic. It takes the chef close to eight hours to perfect the cinnamon-and-anise-scented broth and satiny, hand-cut chow fun noodles that compose the signature dish: massive bowls of pho with beef brisket, chicken, shrimp, or tofu. It's worth every second of effort. 1415 Washington St., 617/262-0005, phorepublique.net, entrées from $13.50. Persephone: This fashionable restaurant may share a space with a trendy clothing boutique, Achilles, but the food won't give you sticker shock. In fact, it's a bargain considering the bistro's kitchen is run by chef Michael Leviton of Lumière, one of the city's top-rated restaurants. Leviton has a deft touch when it comes to fine food, transforming a dish as basic as sunny-side up eggs into something spectacular by using duck eggs, shiitakes, gremolata, and rosemary focaccia. 283 Summer St., 617/695-2257, achilles-project.com, small entrées from $11. Kelly's Roast Beef: Scoring a lobster roll at Kelly's is the birthright of every Bostonian. There's nothing fancy about the place: The take-out shack (also known for its roast beef) hasn't changed much since it opened in 1951 in the Italian enclave of Revere. But the creamy concoction of crustacean, mayonnaise, and a hint of celery on a perfectly toasted and buttered bun is the most delicious lobsta Boston has to offer. 410 Revere Beach Blvd., 781/284-9129, kellysroastbeef.com, sandwiches from $5. Toro Best: known for his upscale cuisine and appearances on major food shows, chef Ken Oringer has set Boston ablaze with his casual Spanish restaurant, Toro, and its not-so-traditional tapas menu. The tiny bites include citrus-infused yellowfin tuna, foie gras with pear-and-bacon chutney, and a mean jamón serrano. Many of the plates pair nicely with the caramelized caipirinha, which tastes just like toffee. 1704 Washington St., 617/536-4300, toro-restaurant.com, tapas from $5.